FCC: Yeah, We're Gonna Go Ahead and Scrap Net Neutrality Rules

FCC Chairman Pai said his order would reverse to Obama administration's 'failed approach' to internet regulation, but detractors beg to differ.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today formally circulated an order that would gut the net neutrality rules put in place under President Obama.

"In 2015, the prior FCC bowed to pressure from President Obama. On a party-line vote, it imposed heavy-handed, utility-style regulations upon the internet. That decision was a mistake. It's depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks and deterred innovation," Pai said in a statement. "Today, I have shared with my colleagues a draft order that would abandon this failed approach and return to the longstanding consensus that served consumers well for decades."

The commission will vote on Pai's proposal at its Dec. 14 public meeting, where it will likely get approved by a partisan 3-2 vote.

"Our internet economy is the envy of the world because it is open to all. This proposal tears at the foundation of that openness. It hands broadband providers the power to decide what voices to amplify, which sites we can visit, what connections we can make, and what communities we create. It throttles access, stalls opportunity, and censors content. It would be a big blunder for a slim majority of the FCC to approve these rules and saddle every internet user with the cruel consequences."

Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who has strongly opposed efforts to roll back the net neutrality rules, called the move a "pre-holiday news dump" that needs to end up "in the trash heap."

Pai's Republican colleague, however, sided with him. Commissioner Brendan Carr said the internet has done just fine since its inception without regulation. "I fully support returning to this approach," he said.

What's Happening?

Basically, Pai wants to allow ISPs to police themselves. "The FCC would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that's best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate," Pai said in a statement.

Pai would reverse a 2015 decision to reclassify broadband as a telecom service rather than an information service, or "Title II" in D.C. speak for its placement in the Communications Act. Title II was intended to give the FCC more legal standing to regulate broadband providers after previous net neutrality rules were struck down by the courts. Thus far, that strategy has worked, but with Republicans now at the helm of the FCC, Title II is not long for this world.

As a refresher, net neutrality is the concept that everyone should have equal access to the web. Amazon should not be able to pay to have its website load faster than a mom-and-pop e-commerce site, for example. After Comcast was accused of blocking P2P sites, however, the FCC decided to craft rules that would ban ISPs from discriminating based on content. It was okay to slow down your entire network during peak times, for example, but you couldn't block a particular site, like BitTorrent.

ISPs say they agree on the concept of net neutrality (AT&T event cheekily joined July's day of action to preserve net neutrality); they just don't think it should be regulated. But given that this whole debate started with an ISP behaving badly—at a time before the explosion of data and the binge-watch era—detractors are not ready to trust Comcast, Verizon, Spectrum, and other large ISPs.

"Internet rights are civil rights," Jay Stanley, ACLU senior policy analyst, said in a statement. "Gutting net neutrality will have a devastating effect on free speech online. Without it, gateway corporations like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will have too much power to mess with the free flow of information."

The one group who could solve this pretty quick? Congress. But they're not the most functional body at the moment, and with the GOP in control and Trump in the White House, anything that did pass would likely strip current net neutrality rules just as Pai's proposal does.

About the Author

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University in Washington, D.C. See Full Bio